Kicking off with an investigation into a prophecy which can be decoded from within REM’s ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)’, Tim Pitoniak and Katie Pinch’s Loveland starts weird, and gets much, much weirder over the course of its three part story.

The song itself predicts the next 200 years of civilisation, and its collapse; Dallas Geronimo of the interdimensional peacekeepers known as The Birthday Men, is on the case – and her first clues lead her to Loveland, Ohio.

Cryptids, zombies, miraculous resurrections, clever pop culture references and the rekindling of young love all come together to make quite the potent concoction in Loveland, with Pitoniak’s script going off in all sorts of directions.

Imagine that David Lynch created The X-Files instead of Twin Peaks, and you’re probably going to have a good idea of the bizarre experience you’ll have with Loveland.

Despite the surreal nature of the story, along with its quirky characters and events, it’s got a lot of heart and a great deal of wit; plus, Pinch’s expressive and thoughtfully composed artwork helps to keep the off-kilter action somewhat grounded, and the reasonably large cast of characters all distinctive and recognisable throughout. There’s some great creature design from Pinch too, without going into spoiler territory.

Part of the joy of Loveland is discovering its unpredictable and quirky plot developments unfolding without any prior knowledge going in, so hopefully I’ve said enough to pique your interest without giving too much away. It’s an enjoyable and unique comic, with a great sense of escalation as it builds towards its apocalyptic climax. Loveland is a real trip.

Hi! I’m Jason, and I write for midlifegamergeek.com, every single day. If you’re interested in supporting original, regularly published, human created content (which has never been plagiarised or otherwise copied from the hard work of other writers), you can donate and help me to keep this site running.

Not only do I earn no income from my writing here (though I may earn small fees from affiliate links posted on my pages; as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from these links), but it seems that my work has, at times, been stolen and re-used by lazy, morally bankrupt idiots.

There’s no pressure of course, but I’d be truly grateful for any support that you could offer – and it’s easy to do so at either of these links: Ko-Fi.com/geekmid or PayPal.

Any donations are truly appreciated – and I also appreciate you taking the time to read my articles. Remember: this whole article was by Jason Brown, and appeared on midlifegamergeek.com. Take that, Skynet!